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Defining Contractual Obligations



Update May 15th, 2020 This policy has recently been updated and has changed significantly from what it previously was with agreements between users regarding the sale/purchase of items. Please read below for additional details. Contractual obligations regarding trades between buyers/sellers of art and services as well as related to loans has not been changed.


What is a contractual obligation?

Simply put, a contractual obligation is something that you are required to follow through with upon an agreement with another user. Typically, but not limited to, for buying/selling items, most of the things you agree to do with another user results in you entering a “contract” with them where you agree to do something for or with the user, where there is an exchange of some kind. When you enter these contracts, you are obligated to fulfill them and most of the time you cannot break the contract and must follow through with the agreement.

What are some examples of a contract and contractual obligation?

Some examples of a contract and your contractual obligations are:

  • Example Situation UPDATED May 15th, 2020: Agreeing to buy/sell an item. If you agree to buy an item from a user (we’ll call them Bob) for 100 million gold, then you and Bob enter into a contract.

    • Contractual obligation: Bob is to send you the item, and in return, you send Bob 100 million gold. Once the trade is complete, then the contract is complete and you no longer are obligated to do anything else for Bob. If there are multiple trades involved in an agreement and one user cancels trades after 1 or more of those trades has already been completed and refuses to complete the transaction this would be an example of breaking a contractual obligation and is considered scamming and should be reported as such through our Scam Report

      If Bob no longer wishes to sell the item or the buyer no longer wishes to purchase the item they may cancel the trade as long as no individual involved has already upheld their end of the agreement. If the trade is cancelled by either the buyer or the seller without either user losing an item or gold in the process, then you no longer are obligated to do anything else for Bob or vice versa.

      The intention of this policy is to prevent scams with one user actually sending another individual their items/gold with the expectation of receiving another item/gold based on the original agreement and getting scammed. Because no one loses anything when someone decides not to sell or purchase an item before anything has been sent or cancels the initial trade we no longer consider the cancellation of a trade or declining to sell or buy an item as part of breaking a contractual agreement as long as no one has already received the agreed upon gold/items. This ONLY applies to the sale or purchase of items from another user and does not apply to any other example of a contractual agreement listed below or elsewhere.



  • Example Situation: Agreeing to buy/sell a service (e.g., art, bumping, profile creation, etc). You are an artist and Bob decides he wants to commission you. The two of you settle on a price for your art, 1 billion gold. You tell Bob that it will take you two weeks to do his art and that you will show him the work in progress (WIP) in one week. In return, Bob will start a trade with you for 1 billion gold, but he will not finalize the trade until he gets the finished piece of art.

    • Contractual obligation: Now there are multiple obligations to fulfill as a part of this contract. First and foremost, Bob has to send you a trade for 1 billion gold. Next, you have to start working on his art. In one week, your obligation is to send him a WIP of the artwork so far. After that, you have to send him the finished piece a week later. Finally, once Bob has the finished piece, he has to complete the trade. Once these obligations are met, the contract is completed and you and Bob no longer owe any obligation to one another. You refusing to uphold your end of this contract or Bob refusing to pay for the artwork would be considered a form of scamming and is reportable.


  • Example Situation: Agreeing to loan an item. Let’s say you and Bob are best friends. You would trust Bob with your life, and he would trust you with his. If you were the President and he was your Secret Service Agent, he’d jump in front of that bullet for you. Bob sends you a PM to ask you if he can borrow one of your items and you decide to agree. You tell Bob that he can borrow the item for one week, but then you need it back. Bob agrees to this and you send him the item. You two have entered into a contract.

    • Contractual obligation: In this situation, you loan the item to Bob as part of the contract. In return, Bob agrees to return the item to you after one week. Once Bob returns the item, the contract has been fulfilled and you two have no obligation to one another. In this example the item belongs to you both before and after sending it to Bob, if before you send the intended loaned item to Bob you change your mind and no longer trust Bob for whatever reason you do have the right to refuse the loan. If any additional agreements were made as part of the loan you would be expected to follow the guidelines related to that type of agreement.


These are just some examples of what kind of contracts you make with other users, even if you didn’t realize it. These contracts are binding, and we expect all parties to follow through on the agreements they made.

What happens if one party doesn’t hold up their obligation?

If someone doesn’t hold up to their obligation, then the punishment can vary depending on the severity of the situation and the parties involved. The most severe punishment is a permanent ban against the offending parties for scamming/profiting from scamming. In some situations we will contact the offending party and remind them of their obligation and give them a deadline to fulfill their end of the bargain. If they do so, then we will simply make note of the situation and consider the situation resolved. If they do not, however, then we will take further action that could result in the banning of the offending parties. So always make sure to uphold your obligation.

Something happened, I can’t uphold my contract/I need to change it!

If you run into a situation where you cannot uphold your contractual obligation to another user, or you need to change the terms, then it is your responsibility to contact the user and find a way to make amends. Whether you need to outright cancel it, or simply make a change, it is on you and the other party. Once you have contacted the user, you both must agree on the new terms/cancellation. If one of you cannot, then the old terms are still in place and you will be responsible for them. As a result, if you cannot fulfill them then you will be held liable for violating the contract. If you are unsure you can uphold your end of a contract, then do not enter it. Always make sure that you agree to something that you know you will be able to agree to before actually agreeing to do it.

Someone is violating our contract, what can I do?

If you’re in a situation where someone is violating their contract and not upholding to their end, we first ask that you try to reach out to the user and resolve the situation. If this results in no resolution, then you may file a Scam Report to report the situation. Please make sure to include any evidence you have of the agreement and the user violating the agreement. Evidence must be on Gaia evidence. This means an agreement you made on Gaia, not off of Gaia. A screenshot of your trade history/gift history is not evidence of a scam. Accepted evidence would need to be in the form of a forum post or PM both of which you can report. For loans we do suggest that users make it clear within the PM, post, trade title or gifting message that the item is for loan ONLY and that the item is expected to be returned at a specified time to make the situation clear to both parties should a disagreement occur.

While many users find that communicating elsewhere off of Gaia is more convenient for them we do not suggest this as doing so can prevent us from being able to use proof that an agreement exists. Given the nature of the internet and the ability to modify or falsify screenshots we cannot accept proof of an agreement that has occurred outside of Gaia or can easily be edited or changed by either party (such as screenshots of an agreement that occurred on Gaia). All agreements should take place in the forums or PMs with full details included within the agreement that can easily be reported by either party and cannot be manipulated or edited by the other person.

Educate yourself on other issues by checking out these links:
Official Auction Policy
Clarification on Abusive Behavior
Hacking Prevention and Account Security
Reminder: Don't Joke About Your Age
Reminder: Subjects You Should NOT Joke About
Reminder: Don't Post Sexually Explicit Content
Recognizing & Reporting Password Phishing
E-mails, Gaia Account, and Security: Why it's important
Gold Buying, Off-Site Trading, and You